25 July 2010

We made it to Oahu on friday afternoon. The kids and I are staying in our house, and Darwin is off gallivanting in Virginia...hehehe. (actually, he is going to a school in Yorktown for the next three weeks) We have exactly one week to get everything ready for the kids to start school. Our house is empty...we are sleeping on air mattresses and eating on the floor. It is a little like camping. =)

We got to meet our new ward family today. They are great. =) Caleb said his teacher was the best. London and Isaiah had fun in primary. Brooklin got lots of treats. I volunteered to play the piano in Relief Society since their pianist wasn't there and I was technically never released from that calling in my last ward (at least not while I was there).

Tomorrow we have to get Brooklin registered for school, set up garbage collection, and call the water/sewer people so they don't turn off the water. We also need to get the van inspected and then go buy school supplies. I am thankful I don't start classes until September 2nd!

I am "borrowing" someone's wifi connection and it is super slow and unreliable...so I can't post any pictures...but I just wanted say that we are here, we are happy, and we can't wait to start out on our new adventure. It must be an amazing one...why else would God have ripped us out of Juneau on short notice and planted us in a place we never expected to be?! I can't wait to find out what is in store for us here! =)

18 July 2010

Well...I never really caught up with our vacation stuff, so I'll just do the really short version. We had lots of fun in Blackfoot with Darwin's family. We went tubing/water skiing at Jensen Grove, played a fun version of Minute To Win It, spent a day at Lava Hot Springs, went and watched Eclipse, the kids rode the 4-wheelers, and Caleb got to go to the temple and do baptisms for the first time in Idaho Falls Temple.

On Friday the 9th of July, we drove over to Wyoming to visit three of my six brothers and my sister. We hiked up Mansface, went to International Days, played Quelf and Scum, watched a movie in Cody's giant theater room, had a picnic in the park, and the kids jumped on the trampoline as much as they could. My brother Cody became the "favorite" uncle when he let my kids have a bowl of 12 different kinds of cold cereal topped with butterscotch and chocolate chips covered in chocolate milk for lunch on Sunday afternoon...they were in heaven! =)

On Monday the 12th, we drove down to Salt Lake City to visit our friends the Daltons. Wendy and three of her kids met us at the Hogle Zoo. Darwin and I were going to go to the temple, but it was closed, so we all ate a fabulous picnic lunch and walked around the zoo for a few hours. That evening, we drove to Logan, UT to visit the Cabatus. We had fun staying up talking all night, and then Elena and I decided to go and make some mischief at 1 am. We drove out to Wal-Mart and bought all the necessary materials for decorating a car to look like someone had just been married. We snuck out to her friend's husband's work (he works an overnight job) and made their car really pretty. =) Tami may not remember, but back when I did Elena's car in post-it notes, we told her she was next...we just let her think we had forgotten. =) The next day we went to a really cool used bookstore, ate a picnic lunch on the lawn at the Logan Temple, and went to a really neat pioneer exhibit.

On Tuesday night, we drove back up to Blackfoot and Darwin went scuba diving with his dad on Thursday in Ririe. On Friday morning we drove four hours to Meridian, ID and are now visiting with my parents. Darwin's 20th high school reunion was this weekend, so my parents and my brother have been entertaining our kids for the last two nights. Last night they all went to the Meridian Speedway to watch the car races. Darwin and I had a good time at his reunion. He was really sure he wouldn't know anyone there...but since they had made everyone name tags with their old high school pictures on them, he was able to remember many more people than he thought he would.

We are having a great vacation! It has been so nice to see so many of our family and friends these past few weeks. We leave to go back to Oahu on Friday, so we still have some time left to enjoy our time here. When we get home on Friday, the pace of life is going to go from casual to harried. Darwin is leaving the very next morning for a school in Virginia for three weeks, and the kids all start school a week later. I don't start school until Sept. 2nd...so I will have time to unpack the whole house by myself...yippie! =/

If we missed seeing you this trip, you are all more than welcome to come and visit us in Hawaii. We will be there for three years. The weather is perfect year-round, so give us a call and set up your reservations!

08 July 2010

Friday & Saturday (July 2nd and 3rd) - left on the airplane at 9:30 pm (after having our luggage locked in Darwin's office...they had to take the door off the hinges to get it out), flew overnight 5+ hours to Salt Lake. We had a 45 min layover then a one hour flight to Boise. We got in around 10 am on Sat, drove to Darwin's brother's house to take showers and brush our teeth, and eat some amazing monkey bread that Shaneen made. =) We left about 2 hours later and drove two hours to Twin Falls, ate lunch at Quizno's and then drove two more hours to Blackfoot. Sat for maybe an hour and then went to the fireworks at Jensen Grove park. Got home around midnight and we all crashed! No one really got any sleep on the plane and we were all feeling like zombies.

Sunday July 4th - Church was at 9am, so we all got up early and went to all three hours. Darwin, Brooklin, and I all bore our testimonies in Darwin's parent's ward. It was really awesome. We came home changed and then went over to Darwin's sister Lisa's house for dinner. We spent the evening playing volleyball and bbq'ing. Got home late and crashed again.

02 July 2010

I always get to the point (in house hunting) where I feel like I am just going to have to live in my car...or the hotel, forever. I remember feeling the same way while we were looking for our house in Juneau. I feel like nothing is going to work out. BUT...Heavenly Father knows everything will work out ok, most of the time even better than I could have hoped for. He was watching out for us again, like he always does, and we were able to sign a lease on a 4 bd/ 2 ba home in Mililani. It seems to be a little smaller than our Juneau home, and the homes are super close together...but we are on a corner lot and there isn't a fishpond inside the house or rat poison on the floor...lol. The entire house has wood floors and the washer and dryer are inside the house, which is really hard to find in Hawaii. Most are located either in the garage or on the lanai, so I feel really fortunate. I went out on Wednesday and got all the kids registered for school. The elementary and middle school are on an Army Air Base...so I have to use my mil ID to take them to school! We are also really close to a commissary and a PX. I haven't shopped at a commissary since we lived in Washington DC, and I'm so excited...the prices are amazing and there isn't any tax! =) Darwin will have about a 45 min commute each day, so we may get him a motorcycle to help out with the gas costs (which are around $3.35/gallon right now)..we'll see.

We are just really excited that we found a place to live before we leave on vacation for Idaho/Wyoming/Utah...tonight at 9:30pm!